Industrial Chemicals

Potential hazards for humans and the environment during production, importation, processing and distribution of industrial chemicals have to be assessed in a complex registration and evaluation process. Within the EU, this is overseen by REACh. The last registration deadline of substances with a production or import volume between 1 tonne and 100 tonne is 2018.

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REACh and the chemical industry

With the EU Regulation for the Registration, Evaluation and Authorisation of Chemicals (REACh) entering into force in 2007, the chemical industry within the EU (including Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein) had to take on greater responsibility, if necessary by the implementation of new risk management measures.

The first steps in this process were completed in 2010 and 2013 with the registration of up to 7,500 phase-in substances. During this period knoell compiled more than 800 complete lead registration dossiers and worked on numerous sections of further dossiers. The final registration deadline for substances in the tonnage band between 1 and 100 t/a is 31 May 2018, with more than an estimated 20,000 substances needing to be registered. Since the introduction of REACH, the Chemicals Act in Switzerland was also amended to reflect it. Any up-dates in REACH are and will be taken into account in different revisions of the Swiss Chemicals Act (ChemV) SR 813.11 (fifth revision in 2015)

Even if a substance is already registered in the EU, it is still subject to separate notification by the manufacturer or importer in Switzerland. Regardless of the amount produced or imported, hazardous substances and preparations are subject to reporting requirements.

International development

Many other nations such as China, South Korea and Japan have – to some extent inspired by the EU REACH regulation – revised and adapted their procedures to recognize hazards to humans and the environment through chemical substances and have updated their national regulations.

Benefit from our international expertise

Because of our many years of expertise in registration of industrial chemicals and our global orientation, knoell is also perfectly positioned to provide a broad spectrum of services for chemical registration beyond Europe. Our pool of experts comprises more than 400 scientists from all kinds of disciplines and guarantees expert handling of all required tasks.

We manage communications with authorities

knoell also provides support in case of queries from authorities such as the Swiss BAG (Bundesamt für Gesundheit), the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) regarding registration dossiers or discussions about the uses and subsequent evaluation of substances which, due to their hazard profile, are subject to the authorisation procedure.

Our services for the registration of industrial chemicals

Support in all stages of your Swiss chemical notifications

Support in all stages of your REACH registrations

Support in all stages of your chemical notifications in North America and Asia-Pacific

Literature research and data gap analysis

Development of registration and testing strategies including alternative resources

Consortia management

Classification and Labelling of substances and mixtures according to GHS